Spring – Bubbly Michelle

Dolce & Gabbana nail lacquer 107 Lilac

February 12, 2014May 25, 2014by Bubbly Michelle8 Comments

Lately I have been obsessing over everything lilac. I am guessing it’s the release of all these Spring collections taking it’s toll on me. But seriously, who could resist lilac? Just look at this pretty bottle I am about to review!

This is my very first D&G polish and I feel like a little girl who got her first Barbie doll. It’s all i’d hoped for…. the beautiful packaging with it’s pristine gold cap and engraved logo, (yes ENGRAVED)! it screams luxury. Aside that though, I could easily justify my purchase as I truly own nothing like this.

The shade itself is very grown up, an alomost mauve lilac.. quite ‘dusty’ with it’s high percentage of grey undertones and a hint of silvery micro shimmer that’s only visible upon close inspection. It actually makes for a perfect transition colour from Winter to Spring, where you’ve been wearing burgundies and greys on your tips, and this just takes it a bit further with a hint of lilac.

Application wise this goes on very very smooth!

If you have read my previous posts on nail polish, you’d know I am a huge fan of the YSL lacquer formula (no streaking, excellent brush..). Well the D&G comes a close second. In one coat it was pretty much perfect. Absolutely no streaking. And if you like wearing your colours sheer, you could actually stop there. But as my preference in finish is more for opaque coverage, I did two.

This dried somewhat jelly like and wasn’t what I was expecting to be honest. But after finishing with my Guerlain gel top coat, it turned out exactly as I imagined, glossy, elegant nails.

Now if you are wondering, do I recommend you buy this? Of course!!! I wouldn’t usually type up a review on a polish unless I truly am madly and deeply in love with it!

Caution, one look at the swatches and I KNOW you’d be sold too! 😉

(Nail swatch was taken three days after application, still looks amazing with no chipping)

Below are some comparison swatches so you get an idea as to how the colour runs 🙂

Product info-

11ml 0.37 fl.oz per bottle. (Although this is one of the biggest nail polish bottles in my collection, it had slightly less product compared to the Chanel polishes which contain 13 ml per bottle)

Available at Saks, retailing for $24

Makeup

My first custom eyeshadow quad – Shu Uemura

January 28, 2014January 30, 2014by Bubbly Michelle14 Comments

With my recent Spring kick came an insatiable thirst for pastel eyeshadows. I did end up with a few Dior pastel quads and palettes, however I still wanted a Spring palette that I could call entirely mine; colours selected by me, in shades and finishes that flatter ME!

So while I was picking up a bottle of their famed Cleansing oil (review to be up soon) the gorgeous eyeshadow bar at Shu Uemura caught my eye and the first thought that crossed my mind was SPRING PALETTE! Hahaha

Love how my mind works right? 😛

What I love about the Shu Uemura eyeshadows is that they have such a large variety of colours ranging from the lightest pastels to the most shocking neon orange you could ever find! Basically Shu Uemura is all about colour, bold, unapologetic colour.

The hardest part is usually deciding which 4 colours would come home with you.

So here’s a little guide to help you with purchasing Shu Uemura eyeshadows-

They come in 7 different finishes,

P- Pearl

G- Glitter

ME- Metallic

IR- Iridescent

M- Matte

Silk smooth

Cream

I picked two pearl shades, one metallic and one glitter.

P121- A soft peach, which was a shimmery pearl finish. Silky and blended so easily.

P 140 – A pastel pink, yet another pearl shadow. This was a cool pink.

ME 433- A soft pastel shimmery green. It was the first colour I picked. This colour compliments olive skin tones so well, and if you are of that colouring, I highly recommend getting this one! From the three coloured shades, this one felt the smoothest. I love to pair this with orange or peach for a fresh Spring look.

G W-SV 909- A sparkling silvery white. This was one of the smoothest glitter eyeshadows I had ever encountered; One swipe pulled in a lot of product and it went on buttery smooth! I highly recommend this shade as well.

P.S- For those of you who are lusting over the Tom Ford glitters, but can’t justify the price tag, these are a good alternative!

Here they are, swatched.

The good thing about these is that you can never be unsatisfied with your palette, as they are all hand picked by you!

Product info-

Each single eyeshadow contains 1.4g of product and retails at SGD 22. I purchased mine at Tangs beauty boutique.

P.S- The cases are available separately and they come in a choice of monos, duos and quads. The quad palette also could accommodate blushes. So if any of those catch your eye, you could go for a blush and two eyeshadows as opposed to just 4 eyeshadows.

Happy shopping! 😉

Makeup

Benefit, The POREfessional : Agent Zero Shine |review, photos and swatches

January 18, 2014by Bubbly Michelle12 Comments

Hello there! Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far 🙂

Today’s post is about a new product that Benefit cosmetics is set to release in Singapore this February. (The U.S as always has it in stores already, POUT) Luckily I was given a sample to test it out way back in November and I had plenty of time to use it and make notes so I can share a nice fat review with you 😉

What it promises to achieve-

Take out shine without a trace!

The POREfessional: agent zero shine is your undercover shine fighter! Our NEW invisible shine-control powder instantly minimizes shine and helps smooth the look of pores. It joins the POREfesshional pore minimizer in your top secret mission for smoother-than-smooth skin. Pores and shine don’t stand a chance!

The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this was how incredibly travel friendly it is! I packed this for my trip to India (I mean where better to try a mattifying product right?) and I can honestly say it saved space, was spill proof and was great for mid day touch ups.

It also makes packing a brush in your makeup bag redundant, as this comes with a built in brush cleverly hidden at the bottom of the container. Hygienic and compact. I’d say the brush is pretty soft, not scratchy and good quality for something that comes free with a powder.

Here’s a look at the opening, which shuts close when you twist the top. No Spilling!

Anyways now onto the important stuff!

Agent Zero shine is available in just one shade. Though it looked a little too light when I dusted some on the back of my hand, it pretty much disappears once you blend it out, it works somewhat like a translucent powder would in that sense.

I believe it should be ok for light to medium skin tones but I am not sure how this would look on the ladies with deep complexions.

As Benefit promises it does keep shine at bay. I tested this out with my usual foundation Lancome’s Teint Visionnaire and dusted the Agent Zero Shine on the right side of my face and my regular powder on the left side. The powder pretty much disappeared onto the skin and didn’t leave a powdery finish, just a fresh and matte look.

It stayed a good 3 hours completely shine free. And towards the 4th my t-zone started getting slightly oily, but my cheeks were still in the slick free zone which I am very thankful for! The powder itself is pretty finely milled and I managed to re-apply it around the 5th hour without blotting my face, and it didn’t cake up my makeup or disturb it as a compact powder would. My face was right back at the fresh matte look I started out with.

*I see this very useful for career women who want to take their makeup from day to night without having to reapply foundation and start from scratch.

Other observations were-

Excellent for travel, as I myself hate lugging a giant jar of loose powder when I pack for vacations.

Mess free application. All you have to do is dust a bit into the cap or the palm of your hand and dip the powder brush in.. the lockable jar top is perfect to keep it from spilling while you do all this. Although I wouldn’t advise you using this while at a red light driving to work!

Pricing-

This is said to retail at around the same price as the Porefessional, that’s around SGD 49 and comes with 7.0g Net wt 0.24 oz of product

You can purchase yours at Tangs or at any Sephora in Singapore around the first week of February when it’s said to release.

Makeup

YSL Rose Scabiosa La Laque Couture nail lacquer review, photos and swatches

January 16, 2014January 16, 2014by Bubbly Michelle13 Comments

One thing YSL beauty does well is nail lacquer.

I have never come across any YSL polish that ever performed poorly to be honest. Yeah, some of the lighter shades can be a bit on the sheerer side, but a couple of coats always give a nice even finish.

YSL Rose Scabiosa #48 (LE) is no exception to that. I LOVE this cool toned, medium pink. I have nothing similar in my stash and was very excited to pick this up as soon as I returned home from my Christmas vacay.

I achieved full opacity in two coats (applied over the usual Chanel base coat). Later on I did go over it with a top coat which brought out more of a glossy finish. But this photo was taken before the top coat to give you an idea how it looks worn all by itself.

The Guerlain top coat I use extends the wear of these polishes, and also helps with keeping nail breakage to a minimum.

Application wise this was a dream to paint on. The consistency not too runny or too thick, and the signature broad tapered brush allows you to cover a wider surface of the nail and gives better control of application.

Perfect for those who enjoy DIY manicures! You really have to try hard to fail at applying this polish streak free 😉

* The drop of polish is a true representation of the actual polish colour.

Onto more product info.

These give me the best wear time, a solid week without major chipping, definitely wear longer than Chanel or Dior (Chanel being the poorest… visible tip wear within 3 days).

YSL lacquer come in 10ml / 0.34 fl.oz bottles, retail at SGD 37.

I purchased mine at the Ion Orchard counter, Singapore.

In the US they are available at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks.

Thank you for stopping by, wishing all of you a wonderful week ahead!

Makeup

Dior Rose Porcelaine quint review, photos and swatches

January 11, 2014January 11, 2014by Bubbly Michelle6 Comments

I know my blog is slowly turning into a blog dedicated exclusively to Dior makeup, but once you find something you love, you start to obsess over it right? RIGHT? 😛 (Don’t stop till you get enough they say!)

Anyway, so this time around it’s something from an older collection, Rose Porcelaine 834, which I purchased at Neiman Marcus recently.

At first glance I loved that there’s a healthy combo of cool and neutral pinks in this palette. Perfect for Spring!

However swatches proved otherwise!

The quint consisted of,

A cool medium toned almost cotton candy pink – swatches very sparkly and the colour gets lost in the midst of all the shimmer
A cool soft yellow/cream shade – excellent for highlighting the inner corner of the eyes, it went on smooth.
A light beige/ pink shade – The pink in it disappeared on my tanned skin, looked more of a frosty white, but the texture was silky smooth
A warm light baby pink shade – This was not as frosty as the others and would look lovely on fair skin. A great everyday shade for a light wash of colour over the entire lid.
A medium mauve brown – not as silky when I swatched it, but I liked that the shimmer content in this was to a minimum!

Overall I feel this palette would be perfect for those who prefer their eye shadow sheer and not too pronounced. The intense shimmer content in some of the shades prevents the shadow from taking a true to pan colour on the lids, however for anyone below a NC 25, this should look ok for a fresh Spring makeup look. The quality was good, and I usually don’t experience much fall out with Dior shadows, most fall out only occur during application and nothing during the day.

I found the best combination for medium skin is the top right shadow combined with the two below. However, I’d like to end on the note that this is a quint best suited for the lightest of the light skin tones, and personally I wouldn’t recommend it as there were too many light shades and they all looked pretty similar, not value for money in my book

I purchased mine from Neiman Marcus

You could also purchase this online from Sephora

Thank you for stopping by, hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Makeup

Dior Spring 2014 – Nail polish swatches, Porcelaine and Bouquet

January 3, 2014January 5, 2014by Bubbly Michelle13 Comments

Anyone else out there that thinks Spring collections hit the counters ridiculously early this year? Like seriously!??? I bet next year they’d try sneaking it up on us well before NYE, mark my words!

That being said, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t excited to spot the Dior Spring collection out last morning.. had my fill of pastels for the day 😛

Anyway, the purpose of this post was to get the swatches out for my picks from the Dior Spring 2014 polishes. There were 4 released in Singapore. (Apparently the US carries two colours that didn’t arrive at our shores, Pampille 192 and Blossom 132)

The local (Singapore) releases were-

Bloom 777- A deep fuchsia pink

Bouquet 457- A corally peach sorbet shade

Porcelaine 204- Pastel powder blue

Perlé 187– A topcoat with lilac shimmers, or so it seemed. (testers weren’t out at the time)

I returned home with Porcelaine and Bouquet

Like all Dior’s regular polishes, this came with the signature wide applicator brush which is great for quick and easy application.

Consistency was not too runny or too thick, it was just right 🙂 ; and Porcelain applied smooth with a little streaking on the first coat (something I have come to expect with lighter cream finish colours as these) and by the second coat it looked opaque with all streaking corrected.

*Pics were taken with just two coats and a top coat

Bouquet applied pretty much the same as Porcelain, opaque in two coats with no streakiness, and this one was a warmer shade, so I see myself using this during Summer as well!

Something worth noting is that this applied much more brighter on the nails than seen in the bottle.

My favourite was Porcelaine, and like last years Nymphea 307 I expect this to sell out just as fast. Call your nearest Dior counter and reserve it now!

Product info-

Dior polishes contain 10ml – 0.33 fl.oz

I purchased mine for SGD 38 at the Tangs beauty boutique